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When my son was almost two, he chocked on a piece of bacon. I tried everything I knew to do.. hitting him between the shoulder blades, turning him upside down and doing the same, which did'nt have any effect. Then he stopped attempting to breath at all and went limp. I panicked and prayed. All that came to mind was to put my longest finger down his throat, not knowing whether this was a good to bad thing, but I knew he would die if I did nothing. I did that and wiggled my finger for a second as far down as it would go, and suddenly he choked up a large piece of bacon and cried as though he had just been born. Fortunately i have shortish nails, but it did nevertheless cause a tiny bit of blood on what he spit up..but it never became more aggravated afterward. Since then doctors that I have told about this have said it was the perfect thing to do. I'd love an official response..

I am a certified CPR instructor for American Heart Association. If you are interested in taking a class for CPR, Choking, or First Aid and live in the Southern California area contact me to set up an in home class!

i took my cpr class too but my daughter was chocking the other day on some food and i just hit her back and she was fine . i make sure theres no coins on the floor or in places she can reach it. i put everything that is dangerous out of her reach . i dont buy her small toys either ...

I am a Registered Nurse who has had several renewals of aduly and infant CPR. This article said to do 2min of care before calling 911. This is completely inaccurate!!! Calling 911 is THE FIRST THING you should do. Never wait!!!!!

I now know 2 people ( a co-worker and myself) who managed to dislodge a piece of food choking a toddler by pressing the back of the tongue and making them gag-- I took cpr 2 years ago in anticipation of my child's birth but sometimes everything we went over that day @ the red cross goes out the window when your child is actually choking. Has anyone else heard of this technique?

To LynOBRN,
Are you sure people aren't supposed to give breaths? Where did you hear that? I'm asking because I thought the breaths were necessary to make sure oxygen stays in the blood stream while the person isn't breathing. Then you do chest compressions only if the heart stops because compressions basically pump the heart to circulate the oxygenated blood. If you do only compressions, you'll be pumping blood that has no oxygen in it, which wouldn't do any good.

I didn't think I would need to know this, but I learned and I'm thankful I did because a week ago, my two year old found a quarter, put it in her mouth and choked on it. And again, this morning, I hesitantly offered her bacon for breakfast and of course, she stuffed the whole thing in her mouth. I asked her to chew but the bacon was already getting itself lodged in. Two times in a month! It can happen to you, too! Please do some practice now, while you have the chance, instead of being hysterical like I was when it first happened. I had watched videos but that was it, and it wasn't enough to keep me calm.

I've heard that the compressions (most important after the look-in-mouth) should be to the beat of "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gee's. How appropriate! And most people know that song, the chorus, and the compressions go 'ah ah ah ah stayin alive stayin alive'
I pray I never have to sing that song except in karaoke!

I WISH that when listing the steps to perform CPR one would write to LOOK in the childs mouth in REALLY LARGE PRINT and not to put ones fingers in the childs mouth. If a child is choking and a parent performs what is called a "blind swipe" the parent can actually push the object further down the childs airway. Look in the childs mouth and remove the object, but dont panic and stick ones fingers into the childs mouth. I know, I know I am a parent of three Forrest age 14, Riley age 6 and Stella age 15 months so saying "dont panic" is at the very least easier said then done! :) Thanks for all the helpful articles!

The other day my 3 year old son started choking on a Star burst. I grabbed him and hit his back and pushed on his stomach as I was going to my phone to call 911. As I was carrying him and doing this the candy became unstuck. Whew. I was shaking but happy it wasn't worse. Thanks for this info.

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